Keeping Faith
by writeonkay
Summary: Logan Mitchell hadn't exactly had the best luck in the past year, and that was putting it lightly. Sure, he had worked to make the best of what he had been given, but life's still tough being a high school senior in a brand new town. Especially with the heavy secret he's harboring in a crib at home.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N; So I went through a period of writer's block and then suddenly a huge wave of inspiration right off the bat, too. My brain works in mysterious ways. I am limiting myself to this story, my other Jagan, and my Kames one at the moment, though. No more new stories until one's finished -she says hopefully. Anyway! I was feeling particularly inspired by a few different things, and I felt like writing daddy!Logan, and so this little thing came to be. It'll eventually be Jagan, hence the characters listed, but it's central focus is basically Logan, tbh. Rating's subject to change, too.**_

_**Reviews are awesome and very much appreciated! Hope you guys like it. Enjoy :)**_

_**-Kay.**_

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**Chapter 1**-

It was nice that it wasn't humid. It truly felt like the middle of October instead of it being hot enough to still be confused for summer. The tree colors changing could be seen here in Minnesota, and it was a kind of nice change, because they mostly just dried and browned back in Texas. Of course, that also meant that there would be raking to be had once they were all settled in, but Logan tried not to focus on that too much as he gazed out the passenger side window of his mother's old blue Civic.

When the real estate agency that his mom worked for had suggested a job transfer, the seventeen year old boy had assumed that it would be a city or two over, not all the way out of state. A part of him welcomed the change. New place, new start, right? Of course, it was his senior year of high school, and there was another important detail to take into consideration for him, too, but the prospect of being somewhere new with new people who didn't know him was admittedly sort of exciting. Thankfully it was only about a month into the school year, so he wasn't too far behind –not that his independent study hadn't helped him remain caught up.

Naturally, along with the excitement came nervousness. The town they had moved to was relatively small, Claremont, Minnesota having a whopping population of 592 residents, which left for the assumption that most kids at the high school had known each other for years. Then here was the new kid, coming in having grown up in a bigger city in Texas. It might have been something that someone would call attention to, but Logan was hoping for practically the opposite. If he could get through this school year and finish off his high school career with as little attention toward himself as possible, he would be content. He just needed to get through his classes, make it through his days, and get back to his responsibilities at home. Who cared about dances or sporting events or friends? He did, of course, but he had learned in the past four months that some things took a lot more precedence over others.

As they pulled up out in front of the high school, his teeth worked anxiously at his lower lip. The car rolled to a stop and he blew out a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding as he turned in his seat to look back at the car seat situated in the back of the car. Logan's brown eyes took in the sleeping infant, tucked neatly into her seat with a lavender colored blanket, pacifier in her mouth. Driving always did get her to sleep pretty easily.

"She usually naps again around one." He murmured, thinking out loud, his eyes not leaving the child.

"I know, honey." His mother replied.

"And if she gets really fussy, I put one of her teething rings in the freezer before bed last night. That's been helping her lately."

"Logan-"

"She also really likes those plastic car keys, but you have to keep an eye on her with them because she throws them randomly and then gets upset when she can't move to get them."

"_Logan_, sweetheart."

Finally he moved his gaze to his mother in the driver's seat. She was giving him a slightly sad, but mostly understanding smile as he once again bit his lip.

"I am a mother, you know, and it's not like this is the first time you've left her with me." She noted.

"I know, it's just-" He turned back around finally, sighing heavily and tilting his head back against the seat's head rest. "I've been with her basically every day the past four months, and it's a new place, and she's just started teething and has gotten used to having me around and- Do I have to go to school?"

Turning his head to look hopefully at the woman beside him, he was met with a pointed look that told him, yes, yes he did have to go to school. Arguing the matter didn't seem very plausible, all things considered. He didn't ask his mom for much of anything anymore. She took notice to it sometimes and would tell him every now and again that he was still her son, still just a teenager, and yeah, he had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders now, but that didn't mean he couldn't fall back on her every now and again. He didn't need to punish himself, she said.

Which, okay, maybe he was punishing himself at least a little bit, at first. He figured he deserved it. Hello, here he was a high school senior, seventeen years old, with a six month old daughter sleeping in the back seat. Someone had to punish him for his mistakes, right? He very nearly winced at the thought, realizing how bad that could sound. Thinking of Faith herself as a mistake wasn't right, especially not when honestly, Logan loved her more than anything else in the world. The circumstances of having her, yeah, those weren't so great. Neither was her mother bailing only just a couple months after she was born. Never in his life had he felt more obligated to step up to the plate and really take responsibility for his actions.

At first it had sucked trying to balance finishing up his junior year of high school and taking care of a new baby, but thankfully most of the time he had had to really devote to taking care of Faith had been over the summer when there wasn't school anyway. Finishing up the last year through independent home study helped a lot, too. However, now, after four months of being home with his daughter, of not having to do anything but take care of and play with her for hours on end, he was going back to school. Eight hours away from the little girl before he could get back home to her. His mom was right, it wasn't like it was the only time he had ever had to leave her for anything, but that didn't change the fact that he was pretty sure it was going to be _him _suffering separation anxiety most of the day and not the six month old.

Taking a deep breath, Logan gave himself a stiff nod as reassurance before finally unclicking his seat belt and opening his door. He opened the back door to grab his skateboard from the backseat beside the baby's car seat, leaning over to kiss the child's soft, dark hair gently then his mom's cheek before carefully shutting the car door once again.

"I'll be home around 3:30." He affirmed.

"I remember, don't worry. Everything will be fine. Have a good first day, honey!" Ms. Mitchell blew her son a kiss with a smile before pulling out of the drop off area.

Logan watched the car drive away before huffing out a sigh and turning to go to the counseling office to grab his new schedule. Class was already in session as he walked the halls, finding his way to where he needed to be. Upon entering the counseling office, Logan's brow furrowed as he was met not with some desk receptionist he was anticipating, but two boys that looked his age. One of them was a bit taller than the other with sandy colored hair and green eyes that were focused on the cell phone he was tapping away at in his hand. The shorter, tan-skinned and dark haired boy was busy doodling with highlighters on a piece of paper that didn't exactly look like it was supposed to be doodled on. Logan cleared his throat as he stepped up to the desk counter, a confused expression still on his face.

"Um, hi." He muttered.

"Dude, we can't give out late passes anymore, they took the pad away when they found out we were doing it last week." The taller of the two boys replied, not bothering to look up from his phone.

"I'm here for my schedule, actually. Kinda new." Logan said.

Both pairs of eyes suddenly shot up to look at him curiously. Great, it was going to be one of those towns where new people were an exciting thing. He gave both boys a lazy half smile anyway.

"New kid, cool!" The shorter of the two dropped the highlighter he was holding and stood up with a bright grin. "I'm Carlos."

The other boy slowly set his phone down and stood up, giving the boy on the other side of the desk a nod and a small smile.

"Kendall." He said.

"I'm Logan. Logan Mitchell." He responded, eyes moving to the desk.

Getting the subtle hint, Kendall nodded and started looking through the file box set on top of the desk, searching for his schedule while Carlos kept his curious attention on him.

"So where are you moving here from?" He asked.

"Texas." Logan answered simply.

"Whoa, awesome! Is it true that everything's bigger there?"

Kendall snorted out a laugh and shook his head slowly, not looking up from the file box, obviously used to questions of that nature from the other boy. They must have been friends. Or his thought that most people here must know each other already was true. Either way, Logan chuckled slightly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Mitchell, Logan." Kendall said, cutting Carlos off just as he opened his mouth to go into more questioning.

The blonde laid the paper out on the counter in front of him, then set a pen next to it.

"Just sign on the bottom, then I'll make a copy and you're good to go." He explained.

"Oh! I'll grab a locker number." Carlos declared, darting toward one of the file cabinets along the small office's back wall.

Logan glanced over his schedule while he had the moment of quiet to do so. First period Calculus, second period Physics, third period Economics, a free period during fourth, just before lunch, then came English, then finally photography last period. Not exactly his ideal elective, but he had registered late and they couldn't give him two free periods, so they had to lump him somewhere. Sighing, he picked up the pen and scrawled out his signature on the line saying he understood that these courses were his responsibility and he had to maintain certain grades in order to pass, blah, blah, blah. Official school stuff that if his mind weren't elsewhere he probably would have cared more about. Hearing his sigh, Kendall chuckled lightly and gave him a reassuring glance when he looked up again.

"Just be thankful they didn't give you a TA period." He said, taking the paper and turning to the copy machine.

Carlos came bounding back then, a tiny stub of paper in hand. He slapped it onto the counter and pointed at the number printed on it to make a point of what it was.

"273. The 200's are over by the science rooms, between the Chemistry lab and the Biology rooms." He explained.

Logan blinked, "Yeah, um, is there like a map or something I can get, or?"

"No maps." Kendall said, coming back and setting the warm copy of his schedule in front of him again. "But we can show you where it is because-"

The bell ringing, signifying the end of the class period, cut the blonde boy off.

"We're done here right now anyway." He finished with a crooked grin, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

Carlos grabbed his backpack and quickly moved around the counter in front of Kendall, throwing an arm around Logan's shoulders as if they had been friends for a long time and not just met about ten minutes ago. Glancing over his shoulder, Logan noticed Kendall waving a quick goodbye to the woman that was coming back out to man the desk in their absence before the two boys were both on either side of him, leading him out into the bustling school hallway. As nice as he figured Kendall and Carlos had to be since they were so alright with showing him around in the first place, he would have honestly preferred they just point him in the right direction and let him get there on his own. However, he didn't seem to be that lucky at the moment.

"Alright, alright. History classes are here," Kendall motioned to his left, then turned his head to look at Logan, "Wait, what classes do you have, we can just show you where those are."

Half-reluctantly, Logan handed over his schedule to the blonde who looked it over with interest. As they walked, a good portion of the student body that was walking passed them eyed him curiously, obviously knowing that they hadn't seen him around before. Shifting the weight of his skateboard at his side, Logan tried not to let it make him feel more on edge. He let Carlos and Kendall lead him in a general direction of where he hoped his locker would be, Kendall pointing out which direction he would have to go in to get to which specific class. The dark haired boy nodded along and toyed with the worn out sleeve of his gray jacket with the hand that wasn't cradling his board against his side.

"And, locker 273!" Carlos declared as they finally reached their destination.

Logan tried not to breathe a sigh of relief just yet. Kendall handed him back his schedule and he thanked the two boys for showing him where he needed to be.

"I recommend not going off campus during your free period. Cops around here are prone to assume you're ditching. They've got nothing better to do." Kendall advised, shrugging.

"Tha-"

"Yo!"

All three boys turned at the sound of the voice that echoed across the small hallway. There was another boy across the crowded hall, standing at his open locker and looking over at them with an inquisitive expression. He was tall, taller than Kendall even, which meant really tall to Logan, and had brown hair that looked like he had spent a lot more time than necessary on it. Evidently Kendall and Carlos knew him, because the tan skinned boy bounded across the hallway with a laugh. A bright, wide smile broke across the brunette's face as he clapped a hand with Carlos, then bumped their fists together before he glanced expectantly over at Kendall again. Logan suppressed a groan as the blonde waved his other friend over to them. The boy kicked his locker shut and tucked his binder under his arm.

"Check you out, actually making friends that aren't us. Good for you, K-Dog." The tallest boy teased as he reached them.

"Don't _call_-" Kendall cut himself off, taking a deep breath before rolling his eyes then shaking his head, exasperated, and motioning toward the taller boy. "This is James."

"I can introduce myself, thanks." James scoffed, then turned a smile on Logan. "I'm James, James Diamond."

"He says it like that because he thinks everyone needs to remember his name since he's sure he's gonna be famous someday." Carlos leaned in and explained in a hushed voice, earning an elbow jab from James.

Logan let out a chuckle and shook his head slightly. "Logan. Just Logan."

Up close, he could better see the color of James's eyes, and with a slight jolt he realized that for some reason he really liked it. He hadn't seen a color like it before. Hazel, he figured, but that didn't seem quite enough explanation of the color itself. The browns and the greens swirled together, only made brighter by the long, dark lashes they were thickly framed in. And- okay, it was getting a little creepy that he was just staring into some dude's eyes and getting all intrigued by them. Logan blinked and cleared his throat, glancing passed the boys, up the short distance to where his next class's classroom had been pointed out to him.

"We should probably get to class, right?" he said.

"Yeah, you're right. Mr. Tanner seriously bitches you to death if you're late, I gotta go." Kendall said.

He said goodbye to Logan and Carlos, bumped a fist with James, and then was on his way. Carlos muttered a quick bye, too, before bounding down the hall to whatever class he had for second period. Logan glanced down at his locker card for his combination, purposely ignoring the fact that James was still standing by him as he turned to unlock the metal door and yank it open with a creak.

"You should chill out with us at lunch." James declared.

Setting his skateboard down in the lower half of his locker, Logan bit down on his lip. It honestly wouldn't kill him to make some friends. The problem he had was that having friends meant talking about himself. He was the new one. They all knew each other, they didn't know him or the kind of life that he lived. Or the fact that he had a baby that was waiting for her daddy to get home from school. It wasn't that he was ashamed, necessarily, because he loved Faith and would do anything for her, but that was kind of a huge bomb to drop.

_Hi, I'm Logan, I'm seventeen and a dad._

Didn't work.

Shrugging his shoulders, he half turned back toward James who was looking at him with an expectant look in his eye. Logan tried not to think about the color again as he looked at him.

"I guess, sure, yeah." He said finally.

James's smile grew into a bright grin as he nodded once. The dark haired boy tried to ignore the fact that he immediately noticed how the smile made those hazel eyes look brighter, too.

"I can meet you here and show you where we hang out after fourth period, cool?" James asked.

Smiling faintly then pressing his lips together, Logan nodded. James gave him a firm pat on the shoulder that shook him a little bit before he headed down the hall to where he needed to be. Logan blew out a breath, his brow furrowing as he turned to spare a glance over his shoulder at where the taller boy was headed. Where was his head even at right now? He had no idea.

Turning to his locker again, he reached into his back pocket, fishing out the wallet sized print of a picture of Faith he had tucked in there. A smile tugged up the corners of his mouth as he looked at the tiny infant's face on the shiny paper, her wide brown eyes being a reflection of his own. He glanced back and forth a moment to make sure that no one in the quickly emptying hallway was paying him much attention before bringing the picture up to his lips and kissing it gently.

"Let's hope the day flies, baby girl." He murmured under his breath, slipping the picture back into his pocket then shutting his locker door and heading to class.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N; Hi, hello! Quick update on this one a) because it's new so the idea's still fresh and b) because today after meet and greet pictures got released and a bunch of them involved the guys with small children, I had crazy amounts of daddy feelings. So this happened. And it's really, really Daddy Logan centric, so hopefully that's cool with you guys. I told you this one would be centrally focused on that anyway.**_

_**Thanks to all favorites/followers and commenters/reviewers! You make my day :)**_

_**Hope you enjoy the chapter!**_

_**-Kay.**_

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**Chapter 2**-

Second and third period could not have possibly dragged on any slower. Physics class Logan had been fortunate enough to snag a seat toward the back of the room, getting away with checking his phone every few minutes underneath the black lab table as the period dragged on. Economics he hadn't gotten so lucky, having to rush there from his locker since it was basically on the other side of campus. He had been stuck in the front row, and the teacher recognized he was new right off the bat and had him stand up in front of the class and share his name and three interesting facts about himself. His interesting facts had consisted of 'I skateboard,' 'I've broken my leg three times,' and 'my favorite animal is a monkey.'

Thrilling.

That class had been boring since all they did was read a chapter from the text book out loud. Logan had gotten used to the concept of reading out loud, because it was something he did with Faith from time to time, but it was usually to get her to calm down or even to fall asleep. The sound of his voice usually seemed to work wonders on the little girl when it came to getting her to relax. So needless to say, the whole being picked at one point to read out loud had him even more antsy to be done with the day and back at home already. By the time the bell rang to indicate the end of third period, he was practically running out of the classroom, only to be stopped halfway to his locker.

"Hey, Logan, wait up!"

Reluctantly he slowed and turned around at the sound of the girl's voice. Looking at her, he vaguely recognized her from the class before. She had been sitting behind him. He couldn't remember if he had gotten her name or not, his mind elsewhere.

"You forgot your pen." The curly headed brunette chuckled, holding it out for him.

His eyebrows shot up for a moment, suddenly recalling that he had lent the writing utensil to her. "Thanks, um.."

"Camille." She said, smiling and nodding once. "And it's no problem."

Thankfully she didn't linger like the guys had before second period, simply continuing to give him a friendly smile and a 'see you around' before she went on her way. Logan watched her for a moment, biting his lip, before turning and hurrying the rest of the way up the hall to his locker.

Fourth period was his free period, and yeah, Kendall had told him that going off campus during free period probably wasn't the best idea, but separation anxiety was kicking in on high gear. Just to be safe, however, after stuffing his backpack in his locker and making sure he had his phone, wallet, and keys on him, he grabbed his skateboard then went to stop by the counseling office again. He was relieved to find that it wasn't another class period where TA's were manning the desk.

"Hi, um, I was wondering if there's any possible way to get an off campus pass or something like that for my free period?" he asked.

The woman on the other side of the counter pushed her square shaped glasses further up the bridge of her nose and squinted at him. Maybe the reason they had TA's was because this woman looked like she should have been retired already.

"We don't give off campus passes unless there are medical purposes." She answered in her gravelly voice.

Logan breathed in slowly and gave her a pleading look. "That's a great policy, but see I've got something really important to take care of at home-"

"And you can do it _after _school, young man." She cut him off.

Momentarily frustrated, Logan shut his eyes and took another deep breath. His mom had been the one to meet with the principal before he was enrolled, and he wasn't precisely sure how much the woman had told the man. Based on her reassurance that the school would be understanding and accommodating, he had made the assumption that somewhere in administration they knew of his whole teenage parent situation. Opening his eyes once again, he frowned.

"Can I see the principal?" he requested.

"Principal Knight's office is two doors down, you can see for yourself if she's in." The receptionist said, none too lightly.

Resisting the urge to sneer, he instead mumbled a thank you before quickly leaving the counseling office. Stepping into the principal's office two doors down, Logan knocked right into another student who was just starting to walk out of the office's small waiting room. He muttered a quick apology which was only met by the bulky blonde angrily shoving passed him. Logan scoffed but otherwise shook his head and moved up to the front desk, eyeing the open door that had 'Principal Knight' posted on it.

"I'd like to speak with Principal Knight, please." He said politely to the young woman behind the desk.

"Well, her door's open and there's no one waiting, so go on in." The dark skinned woman laughed lightly, obviously noting his urgency.

Logan stepped into the office doorway and reached to rap his knuckles against the open door anyway, just to be safe. When the swivel chair turned around again and revealed a red haired woman with an expectant smile on her face, his eyebrows shot up momentarily. For whatever reason he had automatically assumed that the principal would be a man. Talk about stereotyping.

"Um, hi, Principal Knight, I'm Logan. Logan Mi-"

"Ah, yes, Logan Mitchell! Have a seat, kiddo." She beamed, motioning to the chair across from her.

For good measure, Logan carefully shut the door to the office before moving to sit down.

"I'm assuming you shouldn't be in class right now and that's why you're here." The woman gave him a slightly accusing look.

He shook his head and let out a slight laugh. "I've got a free period, that's actually what I came to talk to you about."

"What can I do for you, mister Mitchell?"

"I don't.. um, I don't really know how much my mom told you about my home situation right now?" He had taken to anxiously toying with his hands in his lap as he spoke, and he glanced up from them questioningly to see if the principal understood where he was going.

Realization dawned on Principal Knight's face and she nodded slowly. "The situation, with your daughter, you mean? She did mention that. I informed her that accommodations could be made when necessary. Considering the fact that you're continuing to actually _go _to school at all while being a single seventeen year old father, I came to the decision that it would be fair to cut you a little bit of slack. But-"

Logan closed his mouth again, sinking a little bit into his chair.

"When I say cut you a little bit of slack, I don't mean give you free reign. Your classes are still your responsibility, you need to keep your grades up. I more mean a little more of lenient schedule. I know how babies are when it comes to time consumption." She smiled faintly.

Logan felt his cheeks flush a little bit as he cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter once again. "I'm not worried about my grades or the work load, I can manage that. I just- I've got a free period right now, and I- I, um, would really like to be able to go home to check on her and stuff, since it's before lunch time and I won't be late to a class if I come back before lunch is over."

As Principal Knight seemed to think it over for a moment, the boy let his brown eyes wander over the desk, almost searching for some kind of distraction in his impatience. His gaze caught on a picture frame on the shelf behind the desk. The picture was of Principal Knight and what he assumed were her two kids, one a brunette girl that looked about middle school age, and the other a sandy haired boy. Squinting slightly, Logan realized with a jolt that he recognized him. Kendall. It figured he would have the principal's son trying to make friends with him the first day he was there.

"I suppose that could be arranged." Principal Knight said finally, bringing his attention back to her. "I'm going to need you to check in with Lydia, out at the main desk, after your third period class. She'll give you an off campus pass when you check out. You'll also have to be back and checking back in at least ten minutes before lunch period is over."

Logan was already nodding quickly after the first half of her request. "I can do that, yeah, of course."

"I would really hate to have to revoke this on you, so _please _make sure you stick with the rules, Logan." She warned.

He definitely wasn't about to screw up what chance he got to have a Faith break halfway through his days. He thanked her in a rush, scooping up his skateboard and turning to the door to go out and get his pass from Lydia, but froze with his hand on the doorknob when a thought occurred to him.

"Um, Principal Knight, can I ask you another favor?" he asked hesitantly.

"What is it, kiddo?"

"I know that this is gonna sound.. weird, but could you like, not.. mention this to Kendall? It's just that I don't really want everyone knowing right now and making assumptions right off the bat. I mean, it's a new school and I don't really wanna be the one everyone's talking about because-"

"Logan!" He quickly shut his mouth as he was cut off. "I won't say anything. It's official business, and therefore none of Kendall's."

Once again he thanked her before hurrying back out into the waiting area and going up to the desk once again. He explained that he was free to have an off campus pass and once Lydia was given a nod from the open door of Principal Knight's office, she filled out the pink slip of paper and handed it over to him with a reminder that he needed to be back ten minutes before lunch ended.

Getting off campus felt freeing, and not only because he was rolling downhill fast on his skateboard on his way home. More likely it was because he knew where he was headed. He tried to tell himself that that feeling was a good thing, that maybe the whole going to school thing wouldn't be so bad after a while because he would have the knowledge that he would get to hurry home to his little girl afterwards. Before it could really sink in, however, he was rounding the curve onto his neighborhood's street. Rolling up in front of his house, he slowed down and hopped off his board, letting it skid the rest of the way forward until it hit the bottom porch step as he climbed up them.

He recognized the tinkling melody of the tune that played when Faith's rocker seat was on the second he stepped in the front door. The water was running in the kitchen, signifying his mom was in there, probably doing the unfinished dishes, but that wasn't where his focus was at the moment, anyway. A bright dimpled smile broke across his face as he looked at Faith in her rocker, absolutely content despite the drool that was running down her chin and soaking the bib she had on while she gummed at her rubber teething ring. Her wide brown eyes moved over to Logan as he stepped further into the living room, and he let out a laugh as she kicked her feet some upon noticing him.

"Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl in the whole world, look at you." He said, his voice taking on the typical higher octave that people spoke in when talking to babies.

The first time he had ever done it, he had literally done a double take, having not expected it of himself. Over time it just became what he was used to, especially after spending so much time with the six month old. Every once in a while he even mocked her baby gibberish back at her and had a full on fake conversation. Faith let go of the teething ring and let it flop out of her mouth as her dad began unclicking the buckles of her seat to pull her out of it. Logan balanced her for a moment in one arm, using his other hand to bring up the bottom of her bib and wipe at her chin before taking the bib off and bouncing her gently.

"Yeah, how's my sweet girl, huh? Having a good day with grandma?" he asked, then pressed a kiss to the infant's soft cheek.

The water in the kitchen had turned off and Logan turned to meet his mother's questioning gaze as she came back into the living room.

"What are you doing home, young man? You're supposed to be in school." She scolded.

"Free period." He replied simply. "Has she eaten yet?"

Sighing, his mother shook her head. "No, I was just about to get her in there for lunch once the dishes were finished."

"I can do it since I'm here. Let's go get you some lunch, princess. How do you feel about sweet potatoes?" he made one sided conversation with his daughter as he slowly bounced her on the way to the kitchen.

"I pulled the peas out for her." His mother called from the living room.

"She hates the peas, spits 'em out and makes a huge mess!" he called back then leaned in closer to the baby as if he was sharing a secret with her. "Silly grandma, huh? Say 'I don't like peas, those are gross and nasty.'"

He was answered with a quiet coo from Faith that earned a light laugh from him. Once he had her situated and buckled into her high chair, complete with dry and clean bib on, he moved to put the jar of pea baby food back in the cabinet and grab the sweet potatoes, along with a clean spoon. He slid a chair from the small kitchen table in front of the baby's seat and raised his eyebrows at the little girls as she smacked her little hands on top of the plastic tray and whined.

"Alright, alright, I got it, you're hungry. No need to get angry with me." He chuckled.

He screwed the cap off the jar and got a small scoop of the puree on the spoon, holding it out for her and snickering softly when Faith held her mouth open even when the spoon was still a few inches away from her. She 'mmm'-ed and kicked her legs underneath the tray and he mimicked the noise with a wide smile. He had gotten so used to this, fallen in love with it even. With all of the little things. He had never expected to love it this much, or to be good at it. Maybe it was the time he had had to get used to it and get mostly comfortable, but he had never anticipated feeling most at home when he was being a dad, especially given how young he was. Sure, he had always liked kids to a certain extent and he was good with them, even wanted some of his own one day, but that 'one day' was supposed to have been a long time in the future.

Having Faith as young as he did put a lot of things on hold for him. Extracurriculars weren't always a great idea because they usually took place after school and he needed to be home so his mom could get work done. He had originally wanted to get ahead and take juggle some college courses in his senior year so that he was a step up and could work on getting into med school sooner. Social life was a little nonexistent, too, not that that bothered him so much now being in a new place and hardly knowing anyone. The fact of the matter was that, a lot of things changed when Lindsay had found out she was pregnant, and even more had changed when she had opted to keep the baby, let alone when she left the state after she graduated, leaving Logan and Faith behind.

It was really hard at first, grasping the idea, accepting it. He was a dad. He was seventeen, going into his senior year, and a dad. A _single _dad. The first month or two was particularly difficult, just because it was the adjustment period. Getting used to the waking up at all hours of the night to calm the wailing newborn down took time. After a while he got the hang of it and learned methods to keep her calm and asleep. It was around the fourth month when he realized he was getting more comfortable with everything. By then he knew little things, like what noises she liked, or what toys she wanted to play with the most, or how driving got her to sleep really easily. A routine got made, really by Faith herself, and he worked around it and made it work for him, too.

Now here he was, six months with a child, and he felt at ease with it most of the time. Sure, it was still pretty stressful, of course it would be, all things considered, but Faith was his constant. She was what motivated him, what kept him going, both physically and mentally. He _had _to get through things, _had _to go to school, _had _to get up out of bed every day and put a smile on his face, because his daughter needed him to, and he knew he needed to do all that he could for her.

As Faith started to turn her head at the oncoming spoonfuls of food and fuss in her chair, Logan knowingly gave up trying to get her to eat anymore of it. He capped the jar once again and rinsed the spoon before leaving it in the sink. Coming back with a damp paper towel, he wiped some of the excess orange goop off of Faith's face, earning some unhappy huffing in return. Finally he took her bib off of her and got her out of her high chair once again, going back into the living room and plopping down on the couch next to wear his mother was peering over some paperwork. He leaned forward to grab Faith's toy keys off the coffee table and hand them to her before his eyes moved sideways over to his mom.

"Couldn't even make it the whole day, huh?" she asked with a faint smile.

Logan smiled and looked at Faith again as she rattled her plastic keys in her hand and let out a gurgled 'oooh.'

"She's kind of irresistible, don't you think?" Logan laughed.

Ms. Mitchell snorted, "Oh just you wait until she's a teenager, mister."

Shuddering, the seventeen year old shook his head. "Let's not go there."

He wasn't even sure he _could _think that far ahead, given he himself was still a teenager, but even if he was capable, he definitely didn't want to think of the trouble he was going to face having a teenage girl. Turning his focus back to the six month old on his lap, he let himself get caught up in just watching her for several seconds. Admittedly he was glad that Faith had so far inherited mostly his looks. Not that he would have loved her any less if she looked like her mom, of course, but it was still sort of nice that he could look at Faith and not have to see Lindsay. He could almost pretend the girl didn't exist, hadn't hurt him or their child like she did by leaving.

Faith's wide brown eyes looked up at him with curiosity as she gummed at one of the plastic keys of her toy. Logan smiled at her and rubbed slowly up and down her back. She inclined herself forward and plopped her little head against his stomach, not quite able to turn herself in the actual position she wanted just yet. Logan breathed out a laugh and turned her so that she was laying on her stomach against him, her face turned so that she could keep her toy in her mouth as she rested on him. He'd have to change shirts before he went back to school, what with her drooling on him like she was, but he didn't care.

After a few minutes of humming under his breath and rubbing the child's back slowly, he glanced down to find Faith's eyes had fallen shut. A faint smile tugged up the corners of his mouth and he very carefully stood up, cradling her against him as he made his way to his bedroom so that he could lay her down in her crib. Once he was sure she was settled and wasn't about to roll over and start fussing because she wasn't actually quite fully asleep yet, he turned and tugged off his drooled-on t-shirt and grabbed another off the folded pile his mom had left on the foot of his bed, pulling it on over his head and sighing. He leaned in over the side of the crib and kissed his daughter's head softly before grabbing the baby monitor, making sure it was on, and taking the other one out to his mom.

"I gotta head back to school." He said, handing her the device.

"Good, good. Try to stay there this time." She teased lightly.

He managed a laugh and leaned in to kiss her cheek, getting one in return, before he went back out front to grab his skateboard and get back to school.

Fifth period was a tiny bit easier than second and third had been, probably because some of his anxiety had been curbed by being able to get Faith down before he had to be back at school. However, the problem with his fifth period English class was that both Kendall and James were in it, too. Thankfully he was walking into the room just as the bell was ringing, despite being back on campus early like he needed to be, so that they couldn't ask him about where he'd been at lunch right away. He spent most of the period trying to come up with a good excuse, which was slightly ironic, he found, since the current unit in class was apparently tall tales. By the time the bell rang, Logan had his story straight, having to conjure up the name of the girl from his Economics class for the sake of the excuse. It was a good thing he managed, too, because even though he tried to rush out of the room and to his locker before getting stopped, he knew James's locker was across from his so there was no getting out of giving an explanation.

"Dude, we missed you at lunch." James noted, catching up to him as he yanked open his locker.

"Yeah, sorry, I got caught up talking with this girl, Camille, from my econ class." He lied, waving his hand.

"Ah, Camille," Kendall mused. "Careful with that one, she's kind of a drama queen."

Logan almost opened his mouth to disagree, but then realized how pointless that would be given he didn't have much argument, seeing as he had spoken to Camille for all of about thirty seconds. Instead he simply just shrugged his shoulders.

"What're you doing after school?" James asked.

Damn it, he hadn't thought that far ahead.

"James, we've got hockey practice after school." Kendall intervened, earning a mental thank you from Logan.

"Shit, right. Well, hang out with us at lunch tomorrow, then." The brunette said, giving the shorter boy a slight elbow nudge.

Logan wasn't quite sure why James was so set on having him join them, but some part of him felt a little flattered, he supposed. He eyed James for a moment, taking in the somewhat hopeful expression on the boy's face, in his hazel eyes, then he half smiled and nodded once.

"Yeah, okay, sure." He said.

Of course, he still had the same lunch date for tomorrow that he would have to bail on the guys, but he didn't need to share that right now. What they didn't know couldn't hurt them.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N; Hey guys! Sorry it's been a little while since the last update. I was on a mini vacation for a little while there and didn't have a computer I could write on. I did have a notebook, though, and this was the story that came to me first [despite me really needing to update my other Jagan and my Kames stories, too -which will be happening asap!]. This chapter's a little on the long side, to top it off.**_

_**As always much thanks and love to those of you who favorite/follow and leave me feedback, you're the best and I love you!**_

_**Hope you enjoy this chapter :)**_

_**-Kay.**_

* * *

**Chapter 3**-

Logan's hand had taken to sliding up and down his daughter's back once again. Over time it had almost become completely unconscious. Even when Faith wasn't fussing or necessarily needing the soothing, he would slowly rub up and down her back. It seemed to keep her calm the majority of the time, and it kept Logan a certain level of calm, too. It gave him something to get a little lost in, he figured, since unlike other kids his age, he couldn't really manage the time for sports or music or some other seemingly important hobby to get lost and caught up in.

He had gotten past the complaining about it, though. Sports he didn't care much for playing himself. Music he liked, he would hum or even sing for Faith pretty frequently, but it wasn't something he was intensely into, not really something he ever thought of pursuing. Even before Faith, his studies had always been one of his biggest focuses. He wanted to be a doctor; there weren't a whole lot of doctor-related hobbies to be had.

His mom often told him his interest in being a doctor and his need to take care of others was probably what helped to make him such a good father with Faith. Logan figured a little bit of the same, but he also liked to think that it wasn't just a doctor thing. It was kind of a Mitchell thing.

He had lost his own dad when he was only six, and after the car accident, his mom had stepped up so exponentially to make sure that he was well taken care of, regardless of only having one parent. Of course, his mom dated here and there over the years, and he almost had a father figure once again, but Joanna Mitchell was a pretty independent and headstrong woman. Her son had inherited those traits, too, along with the strong sense of being a powerful, prominent figure in his child's life to make up for her not having both of her parents.

The white bedroom door barely creaked open, and Logan's tired brown eyes glanced down only for a second to the half asleep baby girl lying on his chest where he laid on his bed before looking over at his mom in the bedroom doorway with a small smile.

"Office all situated?" he whispered.

Joanna nodded. "Is she asleep yet?"

Logan looked down at Faith once again. She was blinking slowly, obviously fighting off the oncoming unconsciousness. Her pacifier would barely move every few seconds as she sucked on it tiredly. After dinner tended to be like this for her. She would have her bottle and be really mellow and clingy after the fact, falling asleep not too long afterwards. Sometimes Logan would read one of her picture books to her, or have to turn on a movie, but a lot of the time he could simply lay down with her like he was now and she would be content until she finally dozed off and he could get up to lay her in her crib for the night.

"Nah, she's just zoning out right now. Almost there." Logan said softly with a slight shake of his head.

His mother nodded knowingly with a gentle smile. Brown eyes followed the woman along as she moved to grab the empty baby bottle off of his nightstand to take back out to the kitchen. Joanna used her free hand to run her fingers back through her son's dark hair before leaning down to kiss his forehead, and then the small head rested on his chest.

He was extremely lucky, he knew, that he had his mom to help him with everything like she did. Naturally, she hadn't taken too well to learning that she was going to be a grandmother before forty, but since Faith was born and Logan had taken on the parental responsibilities of taking care of a baby, she had been more than graciously helpful. Logan knew full well that he would have been completely screwed without her, even if the prospect of the woman throwing him out or anything wasn't entirely likely in the first place.

After a quiet exchange of 'I love you's, Joanna left the room again to no doubt wash the empty bottle she had grabbed. Originally, he had intended on going out into the living room after Faith was asleep to sit with his mom and talk about school and work. However, not long after Faith had dozed off and his hand had slowed to a stop on her small back, he, too, found himself falling asleep.

When Faith started stirring against him several hours later, Logan was quick to sit up and cradle her against his chest. A quick look at the clock told him that it was much earlier than he wanted or needed to be up, 4:30 in the morning not exactly being the best time for full functioning. Faith was squirming against him, kicking her legs unhappily and wailing now that her pacifier wasn't in her mouth to occupy it.

"Alright, alright, pretty girl. You're okay, come on." Logan murmured sleepily.

He got up from bed, balancing Faith in the crook of one arm as he rubbed at his eyes with his other hand. Going into the kitchen, he had to transfer the baby up into a position against his shoulder as she continued to cry. He bounced her gently, whispering to shush her, but she kept on fussing in his arms.

"Faith, baby, you're okay. It's alright." He sighed, continuing to bounce her slowly.

With her teething, it wasn't entirely unusual for her to wake up in discomfort in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep. It was just a bit of an inconvenience to be woken up at 4:30 in the morning and have to spend an hour getting her to calm down and get back to sleep, especially now that he actually had to be at school in a few hours. Faith let out a particularly loud cry near his ear before burrowing her tear-soaked face against his neck. Logan frowned and sighed heavily, suppressing a groan. This was always one of the harder parts.

"Here, let me take her."

He might have been startled by the sudden sound of his mom's slightly groggy sounding voice if he hadn't grown to anticipate her waking up in instances like this. Faith could get loud when she was unhappy and there was no sleeping through that for either of them. Logan didn't bother to argue and claim that he could handle it, much too tired to do so. Once Faith was in her grandmother's arms, he ran a hand down over his face.

"Did her teething ring end up back in the freezer?" Joanna asked.

Logan turned and yanked the freezer door open, resisting the urge to swear at himself when he realized he had forgotten to put the ring in there like usual. Maybe it was the being in a new place, or the exhaustion from the first day at school after so long, but whatever it was, he felt off his game and he didn't like that. Being off his game meant screwing up a routine. He slammed the freezer shut none too lightly and winced both at the sound of the door and the sound of Faith's strained crying from his mother's arms. Joanna sighed and patted the baby's back carefully as she 'shhh'-ed her quietly.

"Logan, it's fine, just get me her pacifier and I'll get her back down again. You need to get a couple more hours of sleep, sweetheart."

Logan frowned, not because he was unhappy with the thought of getting a little more sleep, but because he always tended to feel guilty when he let his mom take over the baby's 'night shifts.' That was why he didn't let her take over often in the first place. Faith's fussing was just starting to die down, small huffs and whines being let out now as she squirmed in Joanna's hold. Logan gave his mom a nod before going to his room to grab Faith's pacifier for her.

While it only took his mom about twenty minutes or so to get Faith completely calm and asleep again, it took Logan quite a bit longer to get back to sleep. When six thirty rolled around and it was time for him to get up and ready for school, he was beyond tired. His mom was still asleep in her room, Faith still asleep in her crib, and after the night before, he opted not to bother with waking them up just to get a ride to school when he could skate there. After he had gotten dressed in his black jeans and gray long-sleeved shirt, he ran his fingers through the soft, messy front of his unstyled dark hair, feeling too lazy to gel it up for the day. Once he had his backpack slung over his shoulder and his board tucked under his arm, Logan leaned over the side of his daughter's crib and pressed a kiss into Faith's feathery hair before taking off for the day.

Sitting through first period Calculus was excruciating. On a good day it probably wouldn't have been an issue because he was good at math and could typically breeze through most of it. However, the struggle to even keep his eyes open made the class period exceedingly difficult. It wasn't exactly the best impression to give the teacher, he figured, not showing up at all on his first day and falling asleep in class on the second. He might have cared if he had more energy.

In between first and second period, while he was standing at his locker, he was startled out of his zombie-like reverie by Carlos jumping up behind him and clapping both hands on his shoulders. Logan almost admired the way that Carlos was so easy to act like they were practically best buds after having only met just the day before. He himself definitely wasn't that open anymore.

"He made it to day two, give the man a prize." Kendall joked, joining them.

Logan barely let out a chuckle as he slid his Physics text book off the locker shelf. "Fingers crossed I make it another day."

"Yeah, you're looking particularly dead today, dude." The blonde pointed out.

"Did you stay up all night playing the new Zombie Slayer game, too?" Carlos asked enthusiastically. "Not that I did that. I also did not chug down three cups of coffee from the staff lounge during TA period just now."

Logan raised his eyebrows and laughed as he noticed Kendall nodding slowly and mouthing 'he totally did' before making an expression that suggested he thought the shorter boy's antics were crazy.

"I was not playing the new Zombie Slayer game, but thank you for reminding me I need to rent it." Logan said.

"Dude, no. Just hang out with us at James's after school. We always have video game Fridays." Kendall noted.

"Yes! You should totally come! His living room has total surround sound and his TV's mounted on a wall and it's like 100 inches long." Carlos added.

"Seventy-two inches wide, but who's counting?"

Logan's eyebrows once again shot up momentarily as James suddenly joined them, jumping into the conversation as if he'd been there the whole time. His brunette hair was looking a little unkempt and the front of his black leather jacket looked slightly wrinkled. Logan almost would have thought James was going for some kind of grungy, bad boy look if it weren't for the tell tale smear of shimmery lip gloss at the corner of his mouth.

"That's a great color on you, James, you should wear it more often." Kendall teased, obviously noticing as well.

James rolled his hazel eyes and swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "Bite me."

"Lucy?" Carlos asked.

A mischievous grin crossed the brunette's face.

"How did you even get away with making out in the choir room with the rest of the class there?" Kendall kinked a brow.

"We weren't in the choir room, we were in my car. You know chicks love the 'Stang." James grinned.

Kendall faked a shudder and Carlos snickered. It was almost easy being around the three boys because they had obviously known each other for a long time and they seemed content enough to play off of each other and not need much input from Logan, which he was pretty much okay with. Still, he did feel a certain curiosity prodding at him as he listened to the exchange in front of him.

"Is Lucy your girlfriend?" he asked.

Immediately, the other three boys erupted into a fit of laughter, James shaking his head slowly.

"James doesn't really _do _girlfriends." Carlos answered. "Oh wait! Boyfriends either."

For a moment Logan was both confused and a little surprised by the tacked on interjection. Looking at James, he found the taller boy actively working to keep a composed face as his cheeks turned red.

"That's right, James is an equal opportunity face sucker." Kendall taunted jokingly, lifting a hand to playfully pinch his cheek.

"Shut up, Knight." James swatted the blonde's hand away with a sneer, earning a laugh in return.

Logan took quick notice to the way that Kendall and Carlos hadn't made it a point to share that information for the sake of shaming their friend or legitimately make fun of him for it. If anything it was just another one of the things he had noticed so far that seemed to show how close and comfortable with each other they were. It had been an awfully long time since he had had anyone like that.

On top of his observations, Logan found his mind wandering elsewhere, too. Trying to hurriedly distract himself from the thoughts that were poking at him, he muttered something about getting to class just before the bell rang once again. While he rushed to his Physics class, Logan tried to blame the fact that he was thinking about what he was on his being so tired. Surely being completely exhausted from a lack of sleep was a valid enough excuse for now thinking about James kissing boys, right?

As much as he was absolutely craving the chance to go home and spend his free period and lunch with Faith again, Logan also knew that if he went home and was laying around with the baby, there was no way he wasn't going to knock out being as tired as he already was. Missing half of his second day of school probably wasn't the best idea, even if he was already having trouble staying conscious while he was in his classes. Instead, he went out to the student parking lot and called his mom to check in on the six month old.

Not unusually, she had been doing just fine all day. Late nights seemed to not affect the child quite the way they affected her daddy. Lucky her. After giving his mom a slightly unnecessary reminder that Faith didn't like the pea baby food again, he headed back into the school building from the parking lot.

Instead of plopping down anywhere and giving himself the option to doze off for however long it actually lasted, Logan decided to sluggishly wander campus. If anything it would at least help him become familiar with his new school. The bright gold, red, and white school colors were on every bulletin board he passed, causing him to have to rub his eyes every now and again. Flyers and banners advertising club sign ups and the upcoming homecoming game and dance were hung in every hallway, as if students could forget from once corridor to the next. He figured the need for excessive reminders was most likely just out of excitement, but seeing as he didn't really get excited for things like that so much anymore he just saw it as a little over the top.

He had practically wandered all the way back around to his locker again, rounding another corner and yawning. Mid-yawn, he stumbled into someone else coming around the corner from the opposite direction. Quickly, he muttered an apology only to hurriedly look up at the other student when he recognized the voice of the reply.

James was half grinning crookedly at him. His hair looked much more like it had the day before now, styled to a tousled perfection. Vaguely, Logan recognized the smell of hair spray and he glanced down to find that the brunette had a can of it, along with a plastic comb, in his hand.

"Vanity break?" Logan joked, chuckling lightly.

James snickered, "Of course. You didn't think I looked this good with no effort, did you? I mean, I'm lucky, but I'm not _that _lucky."

Logan breathed out a laugh and shook his head slowly. He bit back the comment on the tip of his tongue, once again blaming his lack of sleep on his sudden James- daydreams? That seemed really girly. And not quite accurate either, exactly. It wasn't as if he was writing the boy's name in hearts all over his notebook or anything. Now _that _would be girly. He was just… what _was _he doing? Caught up in admiring someone who happened to be good looking? Sure, that sounded good.

It was like finding a celebrity attractive and thinking about what it must be like to be with them. He had only just met James a day ago, and he did look like his face belonged in magazines or on TV's, so why not make that comparison. At least then he could use the 'he's just nice to look at' excuse for his wandering mind and his getting seemingly lost in depths of bright hazel eyes.

It wasn't exactly the first time he had found himself finding another guy aesthetically pleasing, so at least he didn't have that to worry about. Granted, most of his male attraction was just curiosity and admiring from afar. He had dated a grand total of two people in his life, both were girls. The second, his longest lasting relationship, had resulted in him becoming a parent at seventeen years old. After Faith had been born, dating and being interested in other people for anything other than a little bit of conversation here and there had been extremely low on his list of priorities.

Finally snapping back to reality after a beat of delay, Logan cleared his throat. "Why aren't you in class?" he asked.

James nodded the shorter boy along with him as they headed up the hall toward where their lockers were.

"ASB's this period and most people are either putting up more homecoming posters or picking out a backdrop for the pictures. I usually get away with slipping out."

"You're in ASB?" Logan kinked a brow, unable to quite mask the fact that he was mildly impressed from his tone of voice.

"Senior class president, James Diamond, at your service." He gave a joking half-bow as they continued along before stopping at his locker.

"That must be pretty cool. Probably makes you popular around here, right?"

James snorted and closed his locker again after his hair care essentials were inside. Slumping back against the metal door, he slid his hands into the pockets of his jacket. There was a smirk on his face when he looked at the darker haired boy again. Logan shifted his weight on his feet and swallowed.

"Being senior class president didn't make me popular. Being popular made me senior class president." James said.

Logan's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Look, it's like this," The boy started, "Didn't you have those kids who kind of had their 'entitlement' to rule the school back where you were before here?"

"I went to a school where the freshman class alone was twice the size of this entire student population. So, no. Little hard to achieve that there." Logan replied.

"Okay then, um, have you ever watched One Tree Hill?"

"Do I look like the kind of person that watches One Tree Hill?"

"It's actually not that bad. There was this girl I hung out with last year that used to make me watch it and-"

"James, the point?" Logan laughed slightly.

"Oh, right, okay. Well, you know how there's those kids who go to the same high school that their parents went to and are like living their legacy or whatever, because everyone knows the parents' story?"

"Don't those kids usually end up being kind of pretentious douchebags?"

James laughed outright, the action causing his eyes to crinkle a little around the edges. Even just the sound of the easy laughter caused a small smile to tug at the corners of Logan's mouth.

"Call me pretentious douchebag, then." James grinned.

Logan raised his eyebrows, smiling faintly still, "You? Pretentious? Naaah."

Both boys snickered, shaking their heads.

"What'd they do here?"

James pushed himself off his locker and waved a hand for Logan to follow him up the hall. The smaller boy hesitated for a moment but started to follow as James glanced back at him. Admittedly, he was just kind of glad he wasn't having to talk about himself for the time being, even if this was more social interaction than he had had in weeks.

They came to a stop once again when they reached a glass case full of various sports team photos and trophies. James gently tapped a knuckle against the glass over a picture of the cheer squad from the class of 93. Logan leaned in closer to get a look at the light brown haired cheer leader in the center of the squad. At closer focus, he could see the slightly familiar color of hazel eyes that the boy beside him had.

"Mom was in cheer all four years, captain for three, and Dad-" James tapped against the glass two more times, once over a picture of the football team and then the ASB class of the same year, "Quarterback and student body president."

Logan smirked slightly, raising a brow, "Your mom and dad were cheer captain and quarterback of the football team?"

"Yep."

"How cliché." He chuckled.

"Tell me about it." James laughed lightly. "I tried the football thing freshman year, but my dad was a little nuts about the conditioning, and it just wasn't really my thing."

Looking away from the photos in the glass case, Logan let his eyes linger on James's face. The brunette had a thoughtful expression as he stared at the picture of his father.

"I used to joke about doing cheer instead, but he'd always get pretty irked about it. Wasn't too happy when I got into choir either, but," he shrugged, "Whatever, you know? He was a little happier when I got into hockey with Kendall, but he'll still throw the occasional jabs about me not playing football like he did."

"What about your mom?" Logan asked, his voice quieter than originally intended.

James shrugged again, "She just lets me do whatever I want most of the time. She's got her own cosmetic line she does a ton of travelling to promote, so I'm home alone a lot. She doesn't make me go to my Dad's while she's gone, at least."

Momentarily, Logan wondered why it was so easy for James to share the details of his life right off the bat like he was. It might not have been the deeper details of his personal life, but even those of his family life on the surface seemed like more than what you shared with a practical stranger. It occurred to him after another few seconds of thought that James probably didn't get to share this kind of story often. Everyone here knew him, or at least knew who he was and who his parents were. These were details he most likely didn't get the chance to share with anyone because it was almost common knowledge in the small town.

Suddenly Logan missed living in a bigger city where he could get away with being irrelevant to anything important.

"Anyway, yeah, um," James rubbed at the back of his neck, shaking his head slightly, as if he was clearing it before looking away from the photographs and once again at Logan. "The guys mentioned video game Friday, right? You should come. Back seat might be a little cramped with two of you back there, but it shouldn't be too-"

"I can't."

James's brow twitched into a furrow as a small frown tugged down the corners of his mouth. Realizing how the quickly snapped reply had come off, Logan cleared his throat and let out a slightly nervous sounding laugh to cover it up.

"It's just that, uh, it's still a new place, we're still getting all situated. My mom kind of prefers me to be home right after school to help get things done and whatnot." Logan made up.

He could feel his face heat up, cheeks and the tops of his ears burning. He was a terrible liar. Even if he knew why he was essentially keeping Faith a secret, lying about his reasoning for needing to be home made him feel guilty. He cleared his throat again and rubbed his eye tiredly as if to make another point.

"It's been a long week, too, y'know? Just getting here and everything." He shrugged with one shoulder.

The taller of the two boys pursed his lips, obviously trying to mask the faint disappointment on his face, but failing to do so. For a moment, Logan vaguely wondered how often people ever told James no to things, but the thought was fleeting.

"Right, yeah, makes sense, I guess." The brunette mumbled.

The bell rang suddenly and Logan jolted, not expecting it. His eyes flicked up the hall toward the rapidly filling hallway before they were back on James's face, finding a completely different expression on his face than before. He was grinning easily again and moving beside him to lazily sling an arm about his shoulders much in the same way Carlos seemed to like to do. It was a little different with James, though, because he was a lot bigger than Carlos was, he felt enveloped in the embrace somehow.

"Can't get out of hanging with us at lunch today, though." James noted.

Logan snorted out a laugh and shook his head, rolling his eyes. There was a smile on his face despite himself when he agreed. He figured since he wasn't giving a full truth about after school he could at least give him lunch.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N; Hey everyone! Thanks for being so patient with updates, I really appreciate it. School did just start for me this week, but I managed to get some writing in, thankfully. I finally got around to this one and I'm sorry that it's been so long! This chapter moves a little quickly, but I wanted it to build up to the next one since I've already started working on that, too.**_

_**Big thank yous to all followers/favorites and reviews, as usual! You guys are the best, and I appreciate the feedback so much. Enjoy!**_

_**-Kay.**_

* * *

**Chapter 4**-

James, Carlos, and Kendall liked to talk. A lot. It didn't bother Logan really, because the more they talked, the less he had to, and that was just fine. The three boys had obviously known each other for a long time –since Kindergarten, he learned after curiously asking about it. They talked a lot about hockey, about how Carlos was beating them up at practices, about how James's slap shot was definitely going to get them into league playoffs this season. He couldn't say he had ever really had much interest in the sport, but listening to them making joking jabs at each other or excitedly share both success and injury stories, he had found himself pretty enthralled.

"Did you play sports back in Texas?" Kendall asked curiously, popping a Dorito in his mouth.

They were sitting back behind the gym, where the basketball and volleyball courts were on the black top. No one else was back there but them, most students situating in the quad or the cafeteria. Vaguely, Logan wondered if they were even allowed back there during lunch, but then it occurred to him that Kendall was the principal's son, he probably would have known better. Though, he supposed knowing better and following the rules were two different things.

Logan shook his head, "Sports aren't really my thing. I'm not coordinated enough."

"Don't you skateboard, though?" James kinked a brow.

"It's different. Sports take a lot more energy, a lot more time." He shrugged. He couldn't exactly get into the explanation of why he didn't have the time.

"Hey, what made you move all the way out here anyway?" Carlos asked.

"My mom's agency transferred her." He replied.

He kept his answers short and simple. Despite the fact that he didn't really want to keep talking about himself, he figured giving any answer was better than being obviously deviating. The questions didn't last for too long, thankfully, just a couple about what Texas was like and if he liked the new school so far. He made a comment about the pretty cool people and let his eyes land on James when he said it, earning a grin.

"You really should hang with us after school, dude." Kendall declared finally.

Shooting a glance in James's direction, Logan found the brunette's smile to be missing.

"I, um, can't today. Maybe next week, though." At least then it gave him time to come up with a better excuse. Or actually talk to his mom about it. One of the two.

It didn't get pushed much further, mostly on account of the fact that lunch time ended and they all had to get to their next classes. Logan didn't miss the almost hopeful looking expression on James's face before they all separated, however. He spent the afternoon after school napping with Faith, since evidently the both of them were exhausted enough to need the extra sleep, and it reminded Logan of just how important it really was for him to be at home after school.

His first official weekend since starting school turned out to be less relaxing than he might have hoped. His mom had decided that since she only worked afternoons and evenings during the week that Saturdays were her day to work all day. Her working left Logan with the full responsibility for Faith that he had gotten used to before he had gone back to school. It wasn't something he was complaining about. Sure, he had homework and still a little bit of unpacking to do, even, but he had Faith. His Faith time was precious time.

"Come on, pretty girl, you can do it." He cooed, smiling.

The six month old let out a shriek, followed by a little babbling. She was propped on her hands and knees, the perfect position to take off crawling, but she stayed in place. Every few seconds she would suck on her lower lip and wobble front to back, as if she were about to move forward, but still nothing. It definitely got more than a little chuckle out of her father, though.

"Look, just like this."

Logan moved so that he was on his hands and knees beside the baby. He moved one hand forward slowly, a knee following a moment later. He slowly demonstrated the crawl until he was a couple feet away from her, then turning around and crawling back toward her. Faith's wide brown eyes were locked on him and as he got nearer to her, she let out a gurgled laugh at him.

Logan smiled widely at the child and leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. Faith let out a little more of her high pitched babbling before she started whining, obviously being done with being in her current position. She hadn't quite figured out how to get back after getting there just yet. Logan lifted her up and sat her back down normally on the living room floor, handing her her plastic toy keys and running a hand down her back.

His gaze snapped up toward the front door when he heard a knock, his brow twitching into a furrow. Scooping up Faith, who was now busy contently gumming at her toy, Logan went to answer the door. His eyebrows shot up a second after the red door was open, recognizing the wavy-haired girl in front of him.

"Hi, sorry to bother y- Oh! Logan!" It was Camille.

A look of confusion crossed Logan's face, "Camille? I mean- Yeah, you're Camille, hi."

Camille's eyes flicked to Faith, a smile coming across the brunette's face. "Look at you! You're a cutie."

The girl was grinning and wiggling a finger in Faith's direction. Logan felt a little ill suddenly, now being aware of the fact that he was standing in front of one of his classmates with his daughter in the crook of his arm. He swallowed, feeling nervous.

"What's- Did you need something?" he asked.

Camille's attention turned back to him, smile still on her face. "Yeah, sorry! I live in the house behind you guys." She said, pointing. "One of my dog's toys flew over the fence into your yard. Normally I'd have just hopped the fence and grabbed it, but I knew someone new was living here now. I just didn't realize it was you."

After she finished her explanation, the girl's attention once again moved to the baby, crinkling her nose up as she smiled at her. Faith was watching Camille with both interest and a little curiosity, Logan noticed. Still, the infant's once hand was tightly wrapped around the collar of his gray t-shirt. She hadn't been around a lot of new people, especially not since getting to the new place, he wasn't surprised to see her being slightly nervous.

"Well, if you wanna come on through and grab that toy." He said finally, after clearing his throat.

He was already stepping out of the way to let her in before she nodded. He stayed in the living room, bouncing Faith idly as he waited for Camille to come back through once again. Admittedly, he was trying to think up a good cover story. He felt on edge, like it was far too soon for there to be any chinks in the armor that was his cover. A moment after the initial thought of an excuse crossed his mind, his eyes flicked to the baby he was holding. Then came the guilt.

He knew that treating Faith like some big kind of secret that he couldn't let people in on wasn't the smartest thing to do. Not only was he pretty sure that no matter how hard he tried –if now was any sort of example- he wasn't going to be able to play it off, depending on how long it didgo on for, he knew that it would only make it look as if he were ashamed.

Not that he was _proud _of the fact that he was seventeen and a single father, exactly. That wasn't precisely something that he went around announcing in order to receive praise. The act, yeah, he might have been a little ashamed of that, because he should have been smarter, should have known better. Trusting a simple 'I'm on the pill' and sleeping with Lindsay, thinking they were safe just because she had told him so, that was his mistake. Faith? Faith wasn't the mistake. She happened, and she was sooner than he anticipated ever becoming a father, but he couldn't take out anything on her.

Chewing anxiously at his lip, Logan perked up again as Camille came back into the living room, the dog tug-of-war rope in her hand. She opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but then it closed again as her eyes moved to Faith, as if she had thought of something else to say the second she saw the baby again.

"I didn't know you had a little sister." She pointed out.

Logan swallowed and breathed out heavily. "She's not my sister."

"Oh." Camille's brow furrowed as Logan chewed at the inside of his lip. The girl's eyes flicked between him and Faith a couple times before they widened in realization. "_Oh!_"

Logan pressed his lips together in a tight line and gave a stiff nod, adjusting Faith at his hip for good measure.

"Wow! I didn't even- I mean- Wow." Camille said quickly, shaking her head.

"Wow's the word." Logan mumbled. "If you could like.. not mention this to anyone, that'd be great."

A frown crossed Camille's face, "Wait, it's a secret? Well, of course it is, if it wasn't then word would already be out and everyone in town would know you're a _dad_."

Logan winced. "I would really rather not get that rep before I've even settled in entirely."

"How do you plan on keeping a babya secret?" She questioned, tone suddenly turning to reprimanding. "Why would you want to, even? Just because she's a baby and can't say she wants the public acknowledgement doesn't mean she doesn't deserve it."

"The situation's complicated, okay?"

"Well, no duh. You're in high school and have a baby. What are you gonna tell her when she's older, hm? That you kept her a secret from everyone to save your image?"

"That's not-"

"What if she ends up resenting you for it and thinking something must be wrong with her?"

"I'd appreciate if you would stop lecturing me on how to handle a situation with my own child, thank you." He grumbled.

Camille's eyes fell on Faith momentarily, the little girl just barely starting to fuss as she became aware of her father's increasing exasperation. Logan worked to relax and shushed her softly, bouncing her gently for a moment before turning his attention back to Camille. The brunette let out a short sigh and tucked a piece of her wavy hair behind her ear.

"Sorry." She muttered. "I guess if you really don't want me to say anything, I won't. Technically it's not really my business, but I still think you're being stupid."

Logan tried to ignore the fact that she was voicing all of the internalized notions that made him guilty already, rolling his eyes at her. "I'm not intending to keep her some locked away secret forever, alright? I'm working on how to let people know. It's kind of a big bomb to drop on someone."

Now was Camille's turn to roll her eyes, shaking her head at him. "Whatever you say." She paused and held up the dog toy in her hand. "Thanks for letting me grab this." She said before looking at Faith. Despite the fact that she didn't seem thrilled with him, she managed a smile for the baby girl. "Bye, bye, cutie."

Logan watched her leave with a tight jaw and the heavy sinking realization that things just got much more complicated, much quicker than he would have expected.

Sunday moved too quickly. His mom was home by noon which gave him the opportunity to finally get his homework done. It didn't take him long, and he was back to playing with Faith and giving her a bath in the sink in no time. Monday morning, the situation with Camille on Saturday once again was made more apparent to him when he had to go to school and see her. She didn't say anything to him about anything, but there was a look in her eye when he first saw her up the hall, and he knew that she had to be thinking all the things she'd already told him just the other day.

He felt on edge and he hated it. He shouldn't have felt so nervous just because one person knew about Faith. He shouldn't have felt so nervous about people learning about the baby in the first place.

"Logan!"

He jolted, blinking a few times as Carlos snapped his fingers in front of his face. They were sitting back behind the gym again, all four of them. Upon request from his mother that morning to "please try to make some friends to enjoy his senior year with," he had opted to stay at school for lunch again, even if he would have rather gone home.

"Sorry." He mumbled, rubbing at an eye. "Tired."

"You're always tired." James chuckled, popping a slice of tangerine into his mouth.

"Yeah, well-" Logan cut himself off as he realized his voice was harsher than intended, earning questioning looks from the three boys. "I have trouble sleeping in my new room." He made up.

He supposed it was technically only half untrue.

"My mom used to tell me to drink ginger tea when I couldn't sleep. It actually works." Kendall said.

"I'll have to look into it." Logan replied, though he was doubtful ginger tea was going to do much good for the restless baby girl he shared a room with.

"You never answered my question!" Carlos complained.

Logan kinked a brow. "Question?"

"Yes, spacey, my question. What are you doing on Wednesday after school?"

Logan caught the way that James's hazel eyes flicked up from the fruit he was picking at to rest on him for a second, an almost expect look in them.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Homework or cleaning or something for my mom, probably."

Blaming his mother as an excuse to get out of things wasn't exactly the nicest thing to do, he knew. Especially since she was the one pushing him to get himself a social life. It was the most solid excuse he had, though. Aside from the whole 'I have to take care of my six month old daughter' one.

"You should tell your mom you'll clean after the game." James muttered, actively working to keep his focus on the tangerine instead of looking up at Logan still.

"Game?" Logan asked.

"Hockey game on Wednesday afternoon, dude!" Carlos declared excitedly.

"We're going to freaking kill those suckers, you should totally come watch." Kendall nodded.

"You can cheer me on." James said in between licking off his fingers.

Carlos elbowed him.

"Us. You can cheer _us _on."

Logan smirked and coughed slightly to cover up the laugh that wanted to escape. James noticed and glanced up through his long lashes for a moment, grinning faintly.

"Really, you should talk to your mom." The brunette said. "It's just one afternoon, right?"

Logan paused to unscrew the cap on his water bottle and take a drink from it before sighing. "I'll see what I can do."

His mother was far too enthused with the idea for his liking.

"Of course that's fine! I can take Faith with me to the office for the afternoon. It shouldn't be a problem at all. I'm glad you're making friends, sweetie." She said over dinner that night, a wide, almost proud smile on her face.

Logan frowned down at his baked potato before glancing toward Faith in her swing. "Are you sure? I mean, it's just your second week in the new office. What if they're not okay with that?"

"Oh, hush. My office manager is well aware of the home situation. She knows I help you out with the baby and that have obligation to."

"It's just a hockey game, Mom. I don't really have to go."

"Yes, you do."

And that was it for the discussion. He sighed and slumped back against the back of the couch, shoveling a bite of potato into his mouth. He wasn't sure why he was hoping his mom would have told him no, because admittedly, he was kind of excited about doing something that didn't involve diapers or drool, it had been a long time. There was another part of him, however, that dreaded the idea of getting close to other people. Getting close led to getting attached, getting attached only ended up leading to disappointment, he had learned.

That night turned out to be quiet on the Faith front, but that didn't seem to stop Logan's restlessness much. Telling the guys the following day that he could go to the game after all had gotten a round of excitement in return, particularly from Carlos who was excited to show off his skills at checking people more than anything, it seemed. James was tight-lipped about his enthusiasm, but Logan didn't miss the way that almost his entire demeanor perked up, including the way his eyes lit up with excitement.

When Wednesday rolled around, Logan was surprised to find just how much of the school actually cared about the hockey team. All of the guys on the team were walking around in their maroon and white jerseys all day. Every once in a while, between classes and looking up the hall, he would notice one of the team members getting a nod, cheer, or high five from one of the other students. It was a little new, if only because he could remember reactions to the football team at his old school being much of the same and hadn't anticipated that level of interest for the hockey team. Things really were different in this new place, he supposed.

Originally, the idea had been for him to go home during his free period and lunch to spend the time with Faith, since he was going to be doing other things after school, but on his way to the office to check out and leave campus, he stopped. Up the hall from where he stood, his eyes caught on the bold white lettering of the back of a jersey reading "Diamond."

James was standing outside of the ASB room, cell phone pressed to his ear. Logan couldn't make out what he was saying from where he was, the tall boy keeping his voice quiet probably so to avoid disrupting the classes in session in the surrounding rooms or being caught on his phone during school hours. Though he couldn't hear what was being said, even from afar, Logan could see the tense set of James's wide shoulders, the way he was impatiently tapping the toe of one of his sneakers on the tiled floor. Biting his lip and breathing in deeply through his nose, Logan started toward the other boy hesitantly.

"Mom, you haven't been to a game all season." James mumbled into the receiver. "There's been like six so far and you haven't even been to one."

Logan's brow furrowed as he frowned.

"That's not the-" James cut himself off as he started to raise his voice, working to quiet himself once again. "I don't care if Dad comes to one, either. I didn't ask him to be there, I asked _you _to."

The shorter boy couldn't help but feel a little sad for the boy in front of him. He knew that if he had the capability to play a sport, his mom would have been at every game, probably even volunteering to be team mom or something. There never would have been a question about whether or not she wanted to be there, supporting and being proud of him. That was just how his mom was. He couldn't imagine not having that kind of attention, that kind of love.

"Couldn't you catch a flight after the game?" James asked, and Logan could hear the disappointment in his voice. The boy's shoulders slumped as he sighed, bringing his other hand up from his side to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Carlos and Kendall come over all the time anyway, if you were ever home you would know that, but fine, Mom. Have fun at your convention."

James hung up without another word, stuffing his phone irritably back into the pocket of his jeans. He huffed, obviously exasperated, and half turned toward Logan finally, flinching when he noticed the other boy standing there.

"Jesus Christ." James breathed, letting out a slight laugh as he shook his head.

Logan smiled sheepishly. "Nope, just me."

James rolled his eyes with a grin. "Funny." The grin faltered a little and he shifted on his feet. "How long have you been standing there, anyway?"

"Um," Logan rubbed at the back of his neck. "I can say not long it it'll make you feel better."

James grimaced, folding his arms across his chest. Logan found himself taking notice to the way that the jersey clung to him so snugly.

"Right." The brunette muttered. "Just another episode of Keeping up With The Diamonds."

"I'm sorry your mom's not coming to your game." Logan said quietly.

James shrugged his shoulders with a roll of his eyes. "Honestly, I don't know why I still get surprised every time. There's always something. Meeting, stocking a new store, going to a convention." He sighed. "I guess I'm naïve. That's the word, right? Naïve?"

Logan couldn't help but let out a chuckle, nodding.

"Oh well. I'll still kick ass without her there." James said, obviously working to psych himself back up.

The darker haired boy nodded idly, biting his lip.

"Besides," James perked up further, grinning this time. "I'll have you there, that's an accomplishment in itself."

Logan snickered and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I guess so."

James smiled at him, all perfect white teeth and little crinkles at the corners of his hazel eyes, and Logan couldn't help but smile back. Suddenly he was feeling surprisingly glad to be going to the game after all.


End file.
